Agents: Shades of Red
by Overlord Mordax
Summary: A rebel centric agents fic if you can believe that. Yami reflects on her wake up call and goes to see the Oracle. Oh, and she meets Stevie.


A/N: This is a mostly rebel-centric Agents fic, if you can believe that. Not pro-rebel, just rebel-centric. It follows Yami after she wakes up in the real world and as she goes to see the Oracle. Stevie's in it though.  
  
Disclaimer: The Matrix is owned by Warner and the Wachowskis, Stevie belongs to Stormhawk, Yami and Maiyumi belong to Rogue McAllister and are used with permission. Obsolete and Rom belong to me, as does recruit Greer.  
  
Agents: Shades of Red  
  
By Overlord Mordax  
  
Yami glared at her bowl in a vain attempt to imagine it into something more palatable; over-soggy instant oatmeal perhaps. With a grimace she shoved the spoon into her mouth and swallowed the stuff unceremoniously.  
  
"You'll get used to it," Neo said from across the table.  
  
She shrugged. "Yeah, people'll get used to anything eventually." She swallowed another bite. "Kinda depressing when you think about it too hard."  
  
He nodded, and spoke after a pause. "I know what you're going through."  
  
"I'm sure."  
  
She'd woken up for the first time the night before, dizzy and disoriented. The darkness oppressive and the people strange, she'd thought she was having a nightmare and kept hoping to wake up in her own bed. But inside she knew that would never happen again. What made it all real for her was perhaps the most distressing detail of all. Her long, beautiful, curly red and black locks were gone, and she was nearly bald. She'd screamed when she discovered that, and refused to calm down for almost fifteen minutes, even after someone had gotten her a knit cap. That same red cap was now pulled sullenly down over her ears and she tried not to think about it.  
  
Now though, she had other things filling her mind as well, all the information Morpheus had given her at the strange session in the Construct that morning, and the terrible glimpse at the Real World. It had left her even more shaken and off balance than the previous night, she'd insisted it wasn't true. A sympathetic Trinity though, calmed her down somewhat. She said everyone reacted that way at first, and had conspiratorially confided the Neo had passed out after his experience, and he was The One. Whatever that meant.  
  
"Is he always that...creepy?" she asked, pointing her empty spoon at the dark skinned rebel.  
  
"Who, Morpheus? He's brilliant."  
  
"...But creepy."  
  
Neo frowned. "The Captain has been through a lot."  
  
Yami shrugged, and pushed her shirt back up over her shoulder. It was threadbare and too loose and kept slipping down. Then she pushed her bowl away, not able to force down any more of the glop.  
  
"Neo," she asked suddenly. "What the hell was up with those guys who came after us? The ones in suits?"  
  
The rebel scowled. "They were Agents of the Matrix."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Programs. Their only function is to hunt and kill us and anyone that we try to free."  
  
Yami frowned in confusion and drummed her fingers on the table. "But the one with the ponytail, the one you shot. He can't be a program, I've met him before," she pouted, recalling the incident at the arcade.  
  
Neo frowned yet more deeply. "He wasn't. He was a Recruit," he spat the last word with extreme distaste. "They're humans who have joined with the Agents, become like them. They became aware of the Matrix, but instead of fighting to destroy it, they fight to maintain it."  
  
"What? But why?"  
  
"Because they're deluded, sick, because they're cowards," his voice dripped with contempt. "Who really knows what goes on in their minds? A lot of them were marked for freedom, but the Agents got to them first, and instead of fighting for their freedom, instead of fighting and dying for all of our freedom, they join with their oppressors, they become them."  
  
"Yeah, that answers my question," she said sarcastically. "What I mean is; how could they do that if they know none of its real, why would they want to?"  
  
"I told you I don't know," he sounded angry with her. "Once or twice we've managed to get someone inside, each time they've been discovered and killed. The Agents tell them that the machines saved the human race, that the world is uninhabitable and that the Matrix is the only choice, that it's the better choice," he paused. "It's a lie. It's a lie and they believe it. They're so insane, Yami, so deluded, that they think they're the good guys."  
  
The newbie rebel stared at him. "You're kidding."  
  
"No. Trinity doesn't even consider them human. But, unlike Agents, they die if you can manage to hit them."  
  
"Well," Yami replied with confidence, "All I know is Greer was a bastard and I'm not sorry he's dead. Wish I'd had a chance to get my earring back though."  
  
"It wasn't real."  
  
"Yeah, but that's not the point. I still woulda loved to just rip it out of his ear." She made a grasping, pulling gesture with one hand.  
  
"I know how you feel," he said again. "Later today, we'll start your training."  
  
Yami blinked. "Training?"  
  
Neo smiled secretively. "You'll see."  
  
***  
  
Her mind knew she was strapped to a scary looking chair with an even scarier plug jammed into the back of her head, and yet here she was standing in a dojo, facing off against Morpheus, using martial arts moves that she would have pulled a muscle even thinking about doing, a few hours ago. But that was then, and then was certainly not now. Already she felt what had been her life slipping away, like water through cupped fingers.  
  
Morpheus beckoned her from across the room, and she charged him, leaping into an impossibly long flying kick. It looked like she was actually going to hit him, but instead he grabbed her ankle and swung her into the wall with a crash.  
  
Red-black edged her vision as she looked up at him, her head throbbing.  
  
"What the hell did you do that for?!" she demanded angrily.  
  
The man frowned. "Why could I?"  
  
"What the hell do you mean?" she growled. "You've had like years of practice, you're stronger, you're faster! Christ, you just downloaded some shit into my head and you expect me to be able to beat you?"  
  
He considered a moment. "Yes, it is true that I am more experienced. However, this," he motioned to the room around them, "is not real. It is in a computer and inside your mind. There is no reason that I should be any stronger, or faster than you, is there? Your body in the real world has no bearing on what is possible for you here."  
  
Yami grimaced, trying to grasp the concept. Morpheus must have seen her struggling, because he continued.  
  
"You play video games, don't you?"  
  
She nodded, some of the pain and buzzing retreating from her head.  
  
"Could you in your life, ever hope to do the things your character does? But yet you never question that you can do them...in the game."  
  
Yami blinked. That was true, wasn't it? This was just another sort of game. A slow grin spread across her face and she straightened her long, curly red and black hair. She stood up. She could take this guy on no problem.  
  
Morpheus looked at her, questioning.  
  
The young rebel rushed him with a yell and the real battle started.  
  
***  
  
"She's not bad," Neo muttered as crew of the Neb watched the fight. "Not as fast as she could be, but strong, very strong."  
  
Trinity nodded. "She's not blocking Morpheus' blows as often as she might, and he can counter her fairly often but her hits are almost twice as powerful."  
  
Tank clicked his tongue. "And she's built like an angel, just look at those curves." He grinned amusedly, he was watching in the scrolling code.  
  
"She's all yours man," chuckled Rom, a blond, heavily built man. "Not my type, though who knows, she might like 'Lete better. You might have to fight him for her."  
  
Obsolete rolled his eyes, as Rom reached down and ruffled his hair. The skinny young rebel was only thirteen years old. 'Lete crossed his arms and stuck his tongue out. He was mute in the real world, although he could speak in the matrix.  
  
Rom and Tank laughed again.  
  
"Hey look," Trinity said, nodding towards the screen. Yami had flipped into the air and landed standing on the ceiling. Morpheus then fell hard from the floor to the ceiling, saving his balance in a crouch, but obviously disoriented by the switch in his point of reference.  
  
"Amazing," Tank said impressed. "She can do grav-manip."  
  
"Can you do that Neo?" Rom asked.  
  
He shrugged. "I can fly, can't I? Manipulating gravity is only part of that."  
  
"Point taken," he nodded.  
  
"Yeah, but she hasn't even done the jump yet," the tech rebel mentioned.  
  
"I think she's about to," Trinity said.  
  
"But she has to do Woman in the Red Dress first," Neo protested.  
  
Trinity gave him an odd look.  
  
"What? ...Oh, right. What exactly does the program have for girls, anyway?" he asked.  
  
Trinity shook her head. She indicated the screen. "I guess you'll find out later. Tank, Morpheus wants you to load the jump."  
  
***  
  
Yami stared at him incredulously. "You want me to jump. Across that. You have got to be joking. You're joking."  
  
Morpheus smirked. "You just flipped the physical laws of an entire room, are you telling me you can't handle it?"  
  
She stared down, and down and down. "Of course I can," she protested with a lot more confidence than she felt. "Just...give me a minute okay."  
  
"Of course."  
  
She took a deep breath. "No problem. No problem. I can do this; it's just a game, just a game." She looked back down the dizzying height and felt her head spin. She looked away quickly. But she had to do this, had to. And she would.  
  
***  
  
The five rebels on the outside watched expectantly.  
  
'Lete looked quizzically up at Trinity.  
  
"You didn't make it, I didn't make it, Neo didn't make it," she said with a shake of her head. "Trust me, she won't either."  
  
"It's like a rite of passage," Rom said.  
  
"Or like hazing," Neo laughed darkly.  
  
Obsolete frowned. He pulled a small digital pad out of his pocket and typed something. He held it up. [Freshman Friday: shaving cream in my locker, stole my books, that kind of hazing. The Jump's just training.}  
  
Rom sighed. "Poor kid, they never shoulda skipped you all those grades."  
  
"He can't help being a genius, Rom," Trinity said.  
  
"Shhh, guys, she's about to jump," Tank pointed at the screen.  
  
***  
  
Yami took off running, not daring to look any way but straight ahead. She came to the edge of the building and leapt.  
  
She felt herself soaring through the air, the most liberating feeling; saw the other building coming closer and closer as if in slow motion, she was going to make it.  
  
No. She was going to fall.  
  
She felt the terrible weight of gravity grabbing hold of her again and pulling her down, tearing at her clothes and hair. She was afraid, scared. She screamed. She wanted the lurching to stop, just make it stop!  
  
Suddenly, violently, she stopped falling. She didn't hit the ground, she didn't start to rise, she just stuck in midair. The pavement was still far below her and she felt dizzy and there was pain lancing through her, great ugly shocks of pain, corresponding with flashes of color blotting her vision. She would have puked, but she couldn't move, not at all. She wanted to scream, but she couldn't. Her shoulders began to twitch convulsively and she couldn't stop.  
  
This was awful!! Was this supposed to happen? Why were they doing this to her?! She wanted out of this test!!  
  
***  
  
For a moment they all stared blankly at the screen.  
  
"What the hell happened?" Rom demanded.  
  
"She's...stuck. Somehow she just got stuck in midair, I don't think she can move," Tank replied, confused. "I've never seen it happen to a person before."  
  
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Neo demanded, "Get her out of there before it kills her!!"  
  
"Right!" the tech rebel typed a few hasty commands, and then jumped up to the chair where Yami's body was strapped. Her shoulders were spasming in reality too. He pulled the plug out of the back of her neck.  
  
Yami sat up like a shot and puked out the contents of her meager breakfast, managing to hit the floor of the Neb rather than Tank or herself. Then she hugged her own shoulders and began to sob, choking sputtering, tears running down her cheeks.  
  
"Shh shh shh," Tank wrapped his arms around her impulsively and rubbing her back. "It's okay, it's okay Yami."  
  
The rest of the crew were gathering around nervously and curiously, wondering if she was okay. When objects got 'stuck' in the matrix, they generally exploded; no one doubted what that would do to a person.  
  
***  
  
For a few seconds all Yami was aware of were the racking sobs issuing from her throat, the dizzying pain in her muscles, and the warm, comforting body that was holding her.  
  
But as the moment passed and the pain and fear receded she felt indignity and anger creeping up inside of her. She pulled away, and looked down at the floor.  
  
"What the hell happened?" she demanded in a low, unsteady voice.  
  
"You got stuck, I'm not sure how," said the rebel who'd been holding her. Tank.  
  
She looked up, "What does that mean?" She rubbed her shoulders, trying to banish the lingering pain and the memory of the experience.  
  
"Your body glitched somehow and got caught so that it couldn't move right in the program. " He stood nervously, looking at her with a concerned expression.  
  
"It hurt. A lot."  
  
"I know."  
  
"Does that happen much?" Yami reached up to run a hand through her hair, but then remembered it was gone. She bit her lip in renewed distress.  
  
Tank shook his head. "That's the first time I've seen it happen to a human."  
  
Yami rolled her eyes. "Greeeeeat," then she caught a glance at the floor. "Eeg, sorry about the mess..."  
  
Tank smiled. "Don't worry about it."  
  
She felt a hand pat her wrist and turned around. It was the little boy. She summoned a smile for him. "I'm okay," she said. "Honestly."  
  
'Lete pouted, looking disbelieving.  
  
Neo spoke up. "Tank, shouldn't you get Morpheus out? He might be getting a little impatient."  
  
Tank winced. "Right," he tapped a few keys, and then pulled Morpheus out.  
  
As he sat up, the first words out of his mouth were, "Is Yami alright?"  
  
"She seems okay," Trinity answered.  
  
He nodded once, then stood and walked to Yami. "I must apologize," he said. "I had no idea that might happen. It has never happened before."  
  
"Yeah," she said sullenly. It still seemed like the old man's fault, just because there was no one else around to blame, really.  
  
"We can postpone your next training exercise until tomorrow, if you would like."  
  
"Gee, thanks."  
  
There was the sound of footsteps and everyone looked up towards the door.  
  
It was a young girl, with dusty brown hair and a gloomy expression that Yami hadn't seen before. She stood, lingering in the doorway.  
  
"I heard crying," she said blandly.  
  
"It was Yami, she was hurt," Neo said, a cold edge to his voice. "She's new."  
  
"Oh." The girl looked up, her cool blue eyes meeting Yami's black. "I'm sorry." The she turned around and disappeared into the corridor.  
  
Yami looked around at the various crew members' expressions. Neo looked disgusted, Morpheus disappointed, and the rest showed varying degrees of disapproval and resignation.  
  
"Who was that?" she asked, puzzled.  
  
"Her name is Stevie," the captain said.  
  
Neo gave a derisive snort. "Just ignore her," he advised.  
  
"Is she always like that?"  
  
"Just about," Trinity said. "If she ever smiles at you, I'd run."  
  
This just confused her even more. "Huh? Why? What's her problem?"  
  
Neo opened his mouth to speak, but Morpheus cut him off.  
  
"Drop it Neo," he said. "And you Trinity. I expect better of the two of you."  
  
"Yes Morpheus," they replied immediately.  
  
"That doesn't answer my question," Yami grumbled, crossing her arms.  
  
The captain put a hand on her shoulder. "Get some rest Yami." He looked around at the crew. "I'm certain you all have things you ought to be doing."  
  
They nodded and dispersed one by one, leaving Tank standing beside her.  
  
"Do you need some help getting up?" he asked her.  
  
"No, I'm alright," she swung her feet to the ground and stood unsteadily, and still a bit dizzied from the experience. The man reached out a hand to steady her but she pulled away. Yami wasn't comfortable around strangers, and right now she even felt like a stranger to herself. "I'll just go get a mop... or something."  
  
"I'll clean it up," Tank smiled slightly at her.  
  
"It's my mess," she protested.  
  
"No, you should rest."  
  
She stared at him. "Well if you insist, I'm certainly not going to forcibly stop you."  
  
He laughed.  
  
"I guess I'll just go lay down then," she shrugged. "I am still kind of woozy. See you later."  
  
She waved negligently and walked out of the room. Her soft footsteps sounded strange on the metal floor. Such a dark, harsh reality, what she had found after everything. She could almost see it around her, the sharp relief that things were thrown into here, thought that she could feel the difference between here and there, a solidity that had been lacking... before. It was so...weird, there was no other word for it, she thought as she stood in the short, narrow corridor. Her whole life, everything before, had never really happened, had been a dream, a lie. Would she ever see her sister again? Did she really want too? Now that she thought about it, were they even really related? Morpheus said that the machines grew children in horrible nightmare fields, like a crop.  
  
"Children of the Corn," she murmured sarcastically to herself. Well, even if it wasn't by blood, Maiyumi was still her sister, she decided quickly. And she did miss her. What had their grandmother done when Yami hadn't come back? She'd be panicked, and so would 'Yumi. Had they called the police? She had to get a message to them somehow, and let them know that she was alive. Even if she wouldn't be coming back...  
  
"Penny for you thoughts?" a voice asked.  
  
Yami turned around.  
  
"Not that I've got one," Stevie added. "So, did he warn you not to talk to me?"  
  
"Who, Neo? That was the gist, I guess." She studied the girl, her sullen and somewhat arrogant posture. "Who are you anyway?"  
  
"What, you mean they didn't tell you?"  
  
"Morpheus shut them up. What's the big deal? You seem pretty harmless, I mean, you don't look like a six armed Cthulu demon waiting to tear my head off or anything."  
  
She smirked, and Yami wondered briefly if that counted as a smile. "Well, I've only got two arms, but Neo might dispute the demon part if you catch him in the wrong mood."  
  
"You didn't answer my question," Yami persisted.  
  
"My name's Stevie and I have stupendously bad luck."  
  
She blinked. "Huh? How so?"  
  
"Nu-uh, now it's my turn to ask a question."  
  
Yami rolled her eyes. "Okay, shoot." She wondered what exactly Neo had against Stevie; she didn't seem bad, at least, not yet. There was always the possibility that she had a split personality or eyes in the back of her head or something.  
  
"What happened that made you cry?" she asked with a note of concern.  
  
The older girl flushed with embarrassment. Of course she had to ask that; it wasn't as if Yami had any pride or anything, nope. Just go ahead and ask her humiliating questions. "I got stuck," she muttered.  
  
"Huh?" Stevie's brow furrowed.  
  
Yami rubbed her neck uncomfortably. "Trying to jump across a couple rooftops. I started to fall and got stuck midair. It hurt." She shrugged. "My turn now. Why do you have bad luck?"  
  
She fixed Yami with an intent blue stare. "I'm assuming you had a choice in being here, right? In coming to the real world."  
  
Confused, she nodded. "Well, yeah. Blue pill, red pill, that thing right?"  
  
"Good enough," she paused. "I didn't."  
  
"'scuze me?"  
  
"Have a choice. It was this or die."  
  
Yami blinked, profoundly unsure of the conversation. "I'm...sorry?"  
  
She snorted. "My dad convinced Neo to take me out. They're not exactly friends, him and my dad. The opposite, actually."  
  
"Oh," well, that probably explained why Neo hated her. Sort of... "But why would you want to stay in the Matrix?"  
  
Stevie shook her head. "Sorry, my turn. Why would you want to leave?"  
  
"It's not real," she answered quickly. "It's just a computer program."  
  
"Oh? Did you have friends Yami? Or a family?"  
  
She nodded. "Of course."  
  
"Were they real? ....Or were they just a figment of your imagination?" Stevie's eyes were tearing up slightly, though it was obvious she was trying to control herself.  
  
"I-" that was a good question. Of course they were real, everyone was tied in, it was the Matrix that wasn't real. It was that they were being controlled, used, by machines.  
  
"What's the matter, can't answer?" there was a sharp note to the younger girl's voice. "Weren't they real?"  
  
"That's not the point!" Yami exploded, clenching her fists.  
  
"Isn't it?"  
  
"The machines are using us for food for god's sake!"  
  
"Oh? Did they cook and eat anybody you know?" she asked with a false sweetness.  
  
Yami growled. "You know what, screw you. Just leave me alone."  
  
"Fine, you suck as company anyway."  
  
"Yeah, well so do you!"  
  
"Fine!"  
  
"Fine!"  
  
Both girls stalked away, Stevie crossing her arms, and Yami, finally reaching her barren room, slamming the door behind her. She threw herself down on the pallet-bed.  
  
"What's she know anyway?" she snarled, laying on her stomach and propping her head on her elbows.  
  
So what if the machines weren't literally killing and eating people? They had humanity enslaved and lied to. So what if the people in the Matrix were real, they'd be just as real outside of it, once they'd been freed. Of course the real world didn't have any malls, or anything like that. But that was the machines' fault, and it didn't really matter anyway, did it?  
  
***  
  
"Were you listening to me Yami," Morpheus asked, "Or were you looking at the man in the leather pants?"  
  
Yami flushed. "Of course I was listening!"  
  
Morpheus shook his head. "Look again."  
  
Yami turned around. Instead of the gorgeous guy, with blonde hair and the leather pants, she found a gun in her face, held by a severe looking man in a black suit.  
  
"Eeep!" she shrieked, startled and stumbled backwards.  
  
"Freeze program," Morpheus commanded, and their entire surroundings stopped.  
  
Yami panted. "What the hell did you do that for?!" she demanded. "You scared me out of my mind!"  
  
"Agents can be anyone, Yami. They hunt rebels, they kill rebels, they are programs and those are their only functions. They can take over the body of anyone who we have not freed."  
  
"Can recruits do that?" she asked looking at the frozen agent and thinking of Greer.  
  
"So someone told you about recruits."  
  
"Neo did."  
  
The rebel captain shook his head. "No, agent recruits are human. They have bodies in the real world and they can be killed. However, since there is no sure way to tell a recruit from a true agent except by shooting them, which is hard to do, you should run. Whenever you see an agent, run. They have powers that we don't, if you stand your ground and fight, I can guarantee that you will be killed."  
  
"Huh," she replied noncommittally. She wasn't so sure of that, she was no coward. She was tough. Yami cracked her knuckles and glared at the agent.  
  
Morpheus shook his head, sensing that his words had no effect on the arrogant, headstrong new rebel. He hoped that she would not have to learn humility the fatal way.  
  
"So when do we go back in the real Matrix?" she asked anxiously.  
  
"This afternoon. You have an appointment with the Oracle."  
  
Yami squinted. "The who?"  
  
"The Oracle," he repeated.  
  
"And this Oracle is supposed to tell my future?" she asked incredulously.  
  
"She will tell you what she knows."  
  
"Woo," she said blandly.  
  
Morpheus smiled mysteriously, and picked up his cell phone. "Tank, get us out, would you?"  
  
"Sure thing captain," Yami could hear Tank's loud, exuberant voice, even though she was standing at least a foot away.  
  
A moment later she was no longer standing in the middle of a busy street, she opened her eyes and was once again on the deck of the Nebuchadnezzar.  
  
"Hey," said Tank, standing over her, "have fun?"  
  
"Oh, tons," she replied with a roll of her eyes as she stood.  
  
Morpheus was already standing there, studying her. Well that was fine, she stared right back at him with a confident grin.  
  
"C'mon," Tank said, "You oughta have some lunch."  
  
Yami grimaced, but her stomach was feeling very empty. She hadn't eaten since last night, and she'd barely picked at it then. At this rate she was going to starve to death in a matter of weeks. She sighed. "Alright," she said, following Tank to the 'Kitchen'.  
  
"I hear you're going to see the Oracle this afternoon," he said, putting two bowls on the table.  
  
"That's what Morpheus said. Is she any good?' She picked up her spoon and made a depression in the mush then watched it slowly fill back in.  
  
"Couldn't tell ya," he said with a wry grin. "Never seen her myself. Heard good things about her though."  
  
Yami pursed her lips. "How come you never go in the Matrix anyway?"  
  
"Can't," he said, displaying his forearms and their lack of metal. "No plugs."  
  
"How?" she demanded, staring at him. "I thought everybody..."  
  
He grinned more broadly. "Zion," he said. "I was born there."  
  
"Biblical," she commented. "Where is it? What is it?"  
  
"The last human city, toasty warm near the earth's core where the machines can't get at it."  
  
"Wow." She hadn't known that there was a city full of people. But she realized now there'd have to be, where else would they put everyone. They couldn't all be on ships. And if there was a city, maybe the real world wasn't as blah as it first looked.  
  
"Yeah, wow. You'll get to see it, next time we go back for maintenance."  
  
"Is that soon?" she asked hopefully, shoving a spoonful of goop into her mouth and swallowing before she could taste it.  
  
"You'll have to ask Morpheus about that," he said. He watched her shoveling in the goop, trying to force it down. "You still in the 'dear god that stuff is nasty' stage?"  
  
"Oh yeah," she responded, brandishing the empty spoon at him. "Big time. This is the most I've managed to eat yet."  
  
"You'll get used to it."  
  
"That's what everybody keeps telling me," she poked her spoon into the half- empty bowl and changed the subject. "So, what's the deal, do people say this lady can actually tell my future?"  
  
"Well, people don't share exactly what she says to them much, but I've heard she's scarily accurate."  
  
She nodded. "Lovely. Just what I need, somebody who actually knows what I'm doing. Well, I guess somebody has to, cuz I sure have no clue."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Well, if somebody had asked me a few months ago where I thought I'd be in five years, I'd have said, well...I'm not sure what I'd have said, but I have even less of an idea now."  
  
"You'll be here," he replied with a confident smile. "Or in Zion."  
  
"Or dead," she pointed out, "Dead is an unfortunately high probability."  
  
"Don't say that. I mean, we've got Neo now. He's the One; he's going to end the war."  
  
"What's that mean, he's the One, anyway? I've heard people mention it, but nobody ever says what the hell it means." She stuck another spoonful in her mouth.  
  
"It was prophesized, foretold, that he would come and end the war. He has powers you and I can't even- I mean, he's the One. The One."  
  
Yami bit her lip to keep from giggling. There was something about the way he said it that made it sound funny instead of mystical. "So who prophesized this anyway? The Oracle?"  
  
He nodded.  
  
"Does she have a name or is she just 'The Oracle'? Woo spooky," she wiggled her fingers.  
  
Tank chuckled. "Just the Oracle, I think. You could ask her."  
  
"I think I will," she nodded. "Anything you want me to ask for ya while I'm at it?"  
  
He grinned and shook his head. "Nah, I don't have any lost keys or anything."  
  
She laughed. "When am I supposed to meet her anyway?"  
  
Morpheus walked in. "As soon as you're finished eating," he said.  
  
Yami looked down at her now three-quarters empty bowl. "I'm good," she said, standing up.  
  
"You're sure?"  
  
She nodded.  
  
"Tank?"  
  
He too nodded and stood.  
  
"Good," said Morpheus. "The others are waiting." He turned and strode from the room, followed by the two younger rebels.  
  
The others were assembled in what Yami called 'the chair room' in her head, Rom and 'Lete, Neo, and Trinity who was looking tense. Tank tapped a few keys, readying the system. The other six rebels laid back in their chairs and he came over to jack them in.  
  
"Please keep your tray tables in the upright position," he announced to Yami, pushing the plug into the back of her neck.  
  
They were standing in an abandoned building of some sort, around a ringing telephone. Morpheus picked it up.  
  
"We're in," he said simply, and hung up.  
  
Yami was busy inspecting her appearance. She was wearing a black tank-top underneath a red fishnet shirt, black jeans and black boots with high heels. She had a long black trench coat over it, and red and black ski goggles on top of her head, over which strands of her long curly hair were falling. She grinned and fluffed her hair, bouncing a little, happily.  
  
"You're very pretty," said a low voice that she'd never heard before.  
  
She looked down; it was 'Lete, who looked rather like a punk cherub. His brown hair was bleached blond at the tips here, and had little braids placed sporadically in it. He was wearing a violet shirt with heavy silver zippers in strange places, the sleeves going down to his elbows, his forearms were wrapped in strips of black cloth like bandages, his pants were low, exposing his navel and were made out of a sleek black material, he had a black vinyl jacket tied around his waist and a pair of violet sunglasses perched on his nose. He had a very large gun swung over his shoulder.  
  
Yami stared at him and demanded, "How old are you?!"  
  
He grinned. "Fourteen."  
  
"Riiiiiiiight. And does your mommy know you dress like that?" she asked sarcastically.  
  
He shrugged. "Mmmm, nope."  
  
"Yami," Morpheus said, "You, I and Neo will go to the Oracle. Trinity, Rom and Obsolete, you will stay here and guard our exit."  
  
'Lete nodded. "Good luck," he told her, and flashed the peace sign.  
  
"You too," she gave a mock salute and followed Morpheus and Neo out into the waning late afternoon sunlight. There was a car waiting for them in the parking lot.  
  
"Can I drive?" she asked hopefully.  
  
"Do you know where you're going?" Neo replied, and not waiting for her to answer. "I didn't think so." He held the passenger side open for Morpheus.  
  
"Oooh, I don't even get shotgun?" she whined.  
  
Neo rolled his eyes, getting in the driver's seat. "Just get in," he said before he closed the door.  
  
"Hmph," she pouted and slammed the backseat door as she got in, crossing her arms huffily. "Well, it better not take a long time to get there."  
  
"Not long," Morpheus reassured her as they pulled out.  
  
Yami stared with her nose against the window, watching the altogether too familiar scenery go by. There was the Bubbly Laundromat where she used to wash her clothes, and there was Maiyumi's school.  
  
"Oy!" she said. "Morpheus, can we take a detour? I wanted to tell my sister that I'm okay."  
  
He shook his head. "I'm sorry Yami, we can not."  
  
"But, why?" she demanded.  
  
"Because to the world of the Matrix you are dead. Your family believes that you were killed in a car accident the night that we unplugged you."  
  
"Wh-at?!" she shrieked. "Why would you tell them that!?"  
  
"Because they are not ready to know. Your sister perhaps may one day be freed, but until that day, or until the war is over, we must keep our interactions in this world as brief as possible. For our own safety, for the safety of your sister, and because this is not our world."  
  
"Whada you mean, for the safety of my sister?" she growled. How dare they say she couldn't visit Maiyumi? How dare they tell her that her sister Yami was dead? They had better have a damn good reason.  
  
"The Agents know who you are Yami, and they know you have a sister. Do you really want to call attention to that fact? They could kidnap her and use her as a weapon against you and against us. And awareness of the matrix runs in a family, Yami. Do you want her to be recruited before we can free her?"  
  
That shook the redhead. "No!"  
  
"Then you understand why you can't risk seeing her."  
  
"I guess," she mumbled. But it still didn't make all that much sense to her. "Why do they even bother doing that, anyway, recruiting people? Aren't they supposed to be some kinda all powerful programs?"  
  
Neo made a derisive noise. "We're better than they are because we're human, and they know it. They won't admit it, but they know it."  
  
"Ah. Well, I guess that makes sense, kinda..."  
  
"It's just another tool they have to keep us from freeing minds," Morpheus said. "Recruits are killed even more often than we are, and the Agents are putting them to a 'useful purpose' in the meantime. It's all very logical."  
  
"Yeah, uh-huh," she turned back to looking out the window.  
  
"We're here," Neo announced a moment later, pulling into a dingy street. "I'll wait with the car."  
  
Morpheus nodded, opening his door, and Yami followed him out and into some vague kind of building. They went up a flight of stairs and Morpheus stopped in a hallway with a bench that seemed kind of like a waiting room, there was no one else there. He knocked on the door. It opened, answered by a little boy with big brown eyes.  
  
"Hello," the boy said.  
  
"May we come in?" Morpheus asked him seriously.  
  
"Yes. She's expecting you," he said in the soft voice of a child, he turned and led them in.  
  
The place looked to Yami like an apartment turned into a day care of some kind. Not what she was expecting. But the oddest thing was the children. One young girl was blowing soap bubbles and then balancing them on the tip of her nose.  
  
A second door opened in front her, and a smiling older woman looked out from a kitchen. "Ah, you're here Yami, come in please."  
  
Was this the Oracle? Yami looked up questioningly at Morpheus. He nodded, so she walked over, and the woman closed the kitchen door behind them.  
  
The woman, the Oracle, Yami supposed, eyed her carefully. Could this woman really know things about her?  
  
"You haven't been eating well," the Oracle observed matter-of-factly, arranging two chairs at a circular table.  
  
Yami stared at her. "Hey."  
  
She smiled fondly at her, apparently satisfied with the state of the chairs. "You were wondering if I really knew things about you," she confirmed.  
  
Yami blinked. "Yeah, how do you know I mean, y'know?"  
  
The Oracle laughed. "I know what I know, and it's enough. Have a seat, kiddo, and I'll get you a little something."  
  
Yami sat down nervously in one of the chairs, watching the woman fetch a large jar off the refrigerator and a jug of milk from inside it. She fished three or four cookies out if the jar set them on a plate and poured a glass of milk. She set both on the table in front of Yami.  
  
"There you go, hon, I'm afraid you'll still be hungry when you get back, but this'll taste a bit better than what you're getting used to."  
  
There were those words again, Yami noticed, 'used to'. "Everybody keeps telling me that," she muttered, picking up a cookie. They were gingerbread men. She bit the leg off.  
  
"I know," Oracle replied, sitting down across from the girl. "That isn't the question."  
  
"Theesh are goof," Yami complimented through a mouthful of gingerbread.  
  
"Thank you."  
  
"Aren't you going to have any?" she asked, after swallowing.  
  
"Oh no, I'm not hungry," the woman smiled.  
  
Yami nibbled on the arm of her cookie thoughtfully, "So, is that your name? The Oracle?"  
  
"We are who we are," she responded cryptically. "But you can call me call me Auntie O, since it will make you feel better."  
  
Yami giggled. "Okay, Auntie O. Um, are you supposed to tell me my future?"  
  
"You could put it that way," she smiled mysteriously and reached behind her, picking up something off the counter. She turned around and Yami could see that it was a pack of Rider-Waite tarot cards.  
  
"You're going to read my tarot?" Yami asked.  
  
"It's what you were expecting, wasn't it?" she opened the pack and pulled out the cards. "You believe in the cards, Yami?"  
  
She nodded. She'd refused to have her future read before, but a friend of hers had once at a festival, and Yami had seen it. It was scarily accurate.  
  
The Oracle pulled out a card, the Knight of Swords. "This is your significator. It represents you during the reading. The Knight of Swords is a young, impetuous, strong person. Always in conflict. That sound like you?"  
  
She nodded.  
  
The woman handed her the cards, "Shuffle these until you're satisfied, will you, honey?"  
  
Yami nodded, and gingerly held the deck in her hands. The cards were smooth and cool, with worn edges; this deck had been in use for a long time. She shuffled them gently and slowly, keeping her mind focused on her task. Stray thoughts, someone had once told her, would cloud the reading, and if Yami was going to have her future told, she wanted it to be as correct as possible.  
  
A moment or two later she stopped and held the cards out. "I'm done Auntie O."  
  
"Alright then," the older woman took the cards back and fanned them across the table. "Pick twenty-one out of the deck and hand them to me."  
  
Yami stared down at the cards and the geometric pattern on their backs. She held her hand over them, trying to feel which ones were right. But, pouting, she decided that she couldn't feel anything really, and picked them at random, handing them one by one to the Oracle.  
  
The Oracle laid them face down beneath the Knight of Swords in seven rows across, each one three cards down. When all the cards were down she asked. "You ready kiddo?"  
  
Yami looked at the spread. "Yeah," she nodded.  
  
The Oracle smiled and turned them up, one by one, Yami watched her expression grow more and more surprised until she came to the final card.  
  
"What is it?" Yami asked nervously. "Is it bad?"  
  
"Bring your chair over here honey, so you can see them right," she gestured for Yami to sit beside her.  
  
The young rebel stood, picked up her chair and set it down on The Oracle's right, sitting down. Now she could see the cards right side up. She looked them over casually, and then her eyes stopped. "That's the Death card!" she exclaimed fearfully. "Am I gonna die?"  
  
The Oracle put her hand on Yami's wrist. "Hold your horses honey, that card doesn't mean you're going to die. Now you want me to read this for you, or do you want to guess what they mean yourself?"  
  
"I'm sorry," Yami replied. "Please read them."  
  
She looked down at the spread. "You sure you want to hear it? This is pretty heavy stuff; I won't blame you if you want this old lady to hold her piece."  
  
Yami bit her lip. "Is it really bad?" she asked again.  
  
"Not bad, no...not necessarily. But it's very powerful," she warned. "Very powerful."  
  
She gulped. "Well, since it's already laid out and everything I guess I better hear it." She forced a smile.  
  
"Alright then," the Oracle's manner seemed to change slightly as she began to read the cards. She pointed to the row of three furthest to the left. "In each triad the top card can be considered the positive, the center the negative, and the bottom the neutral, or thesis, antithesis and synthesis. This first triad represents your current psychological state."  
  
Yami nodded her understanding.  
  
"The cards you have here are the Sun, the Moon and the World. Three powerful symbols, especially, as you can imagine, when they fall together. The Sun represents peace and contentment, happiness in all things. It is a very good card. In the opposite position here is the Moon, which signifies worry and anxiety, uncertainty. It is strange to see the two at odds like this, here in the same triad. It means that you are caught between these two feelings between peace and unrest, unable to settle yourself. You are happy, but you are uneasy. And then the World here, it represents spontaneity and change, travel and freedom. This suggests perhaps that a recent change," she gave Yami a significant look, "which at first seems positive and freeing, has also given you some cause to doubt your own contentment, and bring a shadow over your peace. In your own mind you are conflicted and confused by this sudden change. You bounce between elation and depression."  
  
Yami stared at her, realizing how true it was. She was conflicted now, she knew she should be glad that she was free, but something kept nagging at the back of her mind. "That's right," she managed. "Sometimes I do feel that way."  
  
"I'll go on then," she pointed to the next triad. "Your current environment, physical, social, or emotional. The first card, the positive card," she stressed, "is Death. The card of Death represents a sudden and profound life altering change, the end of something very important. I think we know what it's talking about there, eh kiddo?" She smiled. "The next card is the Devil. It represents bondage to the material, love of power and of those things which are fleshly and earthy. You are in a very materialist situation somehow, where too much importance is put on the wrong things. And then here's the Wheel of Fortune. Something about this situation is inescapable, or nearly so. To fight this fate would be an uphill battle, an unpleasant experience, trying to get away from this destiny."  
  
Yami nodded solemnly and the Oracle continued.  
  
"The next triad speaks of your hopes and desires, your ambitions. Here you have the Emperor and the Hierophant, two very powerful and typically good cards set at odds with one another by their positions as positive and negative. Both are leader figures, the one, the Hierophant, is a religious, inspirational leader, a wise consul, usually. The Emperor, while a good, strong leader, his stress is on power, physical protection, rather than spiritual. He is a symbol of fairness and authority. This last card, the Chariot, is the card of victory in conflict, the triumph of a righteous cause. It portends harsh decisions and intellectual courage." The Oracle looked up at Yami. "The cards say it here, what you most want, what you're searching for is a cause to fight for, an ideal to serve. But you're caught, between the spirit and the body, the heart and the mind."  
  
Yami listened intently, focusing on remembering and taking to heart what was being said, rather than trying to understand exactly what it meant right then. What the Oracle was saying was true, felt true. Yami could feel it, and knew she was right.  
  
"The fourth triad, then, is your strengths, those qualities in you and in your fortune which will aid you. You have God's attention, Yami, whatever that means, the Fool here tells me that," she pointed at the handsome figure on the card, who didn't seem to mind that he was about to walk of a cliff. "This is another card of destiny, but a positive symbol. You're an important player in these times, that's certain. And this card, Judgment, is one of awakening and renewal, regeneration after a period of suffering. The fact that it is in the negative position though, speaks that this awakening is perhaps not something you will want to accept at first, that maybe it will seem wrong. In the end though...well. And here is the King of Swords, the neutralizing factor of your strengths. This one's a real person in your life, someone you can draw strength from. He's an assertive, confident man, original, rational...attractive." She smiled at Yami. "A good man, a leader, maybe one of them from the last triad, hm?"  
  
Yami nodded, wondering who it could be. Morpheus? Neo?  
  
"The next three cards, as you probably can guess are your weaknesses. You might want to listen especially to these. The ace of Wands and ace of Swords seem to be at odds with one another in this triad, the first representing the creative and spiritual, the second the intellectual, again illustrating a dichotomy between what you know in your mind and what you feel in your heart. The fact that they are both Aces, or ones, warns you of being overconfident in yourself and thinking that you don't need anybody else's help. Because everybody needs help, honey. Then here's another King, this time he's the King of Wands, a giver of advice and consul like your Hierophant. He's in your weaknesses remember, so either his advice isn't as good as it seems, or you'll have to watch out for listening to him and relying on him too much. There has to be a balance you know, between yourself, and those around you. Don't let people push you around, but don't be arrogant either."  
  
Yami pouted, a tiny bit insulted that the Oracle was calling her self- centered. She wasn't self centered. Well, maybe just a tiny bit...  
  
"Don't worry honey, we've just got two more to go, and then you can ask questions."  
  
She nodded and chewed on another cookie.  
  
"The sixth triad is your short term future. Here fall the Two of Cups, the Two of Wands and the Five of Wands. These cards suggest that your coming days are going to be dominated by interaction with a specific person. The Two of cups and the Two of wands both signify close relationships; The Two of Cups suggests it may be an ally, but the Wands... are not so sure. Add to that the Five of Wands which is a card of heated conflict and it means this person is likely a dear enemy rather than friend. Your future then will be one of continual conflict with this person, but the Cups, again, suggests that perhaps this may be an unneeded enmity between you. It is again a split reading."  
  
Yami nodded, finishing her last cookie and getting impatient. She could tell what the next triad would be....  
  
"You guessed it kiddo," The Oracle said, "Long term future, final destiny. You want me to read it for you?"  
  
"Yes, please."  
  
"Ha, I knew you were going to say that," the old woman chuckled, bringing a brief smile back to the nervous Yami's face.  
  
"Your last triad holds the Two of Swords, the Two of Pentacles and the Five of Pentacles. The Two of Swords represents a balance between the rational and the spiritual, some time in the future hon, you're finally going to reconcile that split that's been after you this entire reading. You'll be able to finally make a decision regarding what you know and what you feel. The Two of Pentacles heralds a partnership, a fruitful one, for personal betterment and mutual gratification. The Five is a factor of ambiguity again though, and insecurity, but I think this one here," she tapped the Two of Pentacles, "will help you sort out any nagging doubts you got."  
  
"Now," the Oracle smiled, "have you got any questions?"  
  
"Auntie O, what's it all... mean?" she blurted hastily.  
  
The old woman laughed pleasantly. "Well, that is one question, isn't it? The one everybody I've met is after. But, maybe I can help you out in this case. Lemme put it this way kiddo, they call Neo the One, don't they?"  
  
She nodded.  
  
"Well, I'd be seriously tempted to call you the Two. Your reading is the very nature and essence of duality. You have all four Twos in your reading. You have exactly, Exactly half of the Major Arcana in your reading, eleven of the twenty-two strongest cards in the deck. Any Major Arcana are powerful, and any more than three in a single reading represent a very heavy fate, they amplify the whole meaning of the reading. Every card in your reading has an opposite or a match in an opposite position. You have mostly Swords when you do have minor Arcana, that's the suit of conflict, duality and the intellectual. In your reading they are continually set against the suit of Wands, which represent the spiritual and philosophical. You have two and only two Pentacles in the whole spread and they both occur in your final destiny. Pentacles by the way are the suit of the earth-bound and the material. You have two Fives, which are the card of chaos and uncertainty, and they are both in your future."  
  
The Oracle paused a moment and then continued. "As far as I can see kiddo, you've got two possible paths ahead of you, two paths which are utterly at odds with one another. Sometime in the future you're going to have to make a choice, between what you know and what you feel. This choice will cement your destiny, which has two possible ends. Your fate is split into two possibilities utterly equal and utterly opposite. The difference between these two fates is the difference between the material and the materialistic, between the earth and the earthly. It's a difficult choice, and one you won't want to make, but remember, it's our choices that make us who we are."  
  
"But, but how will I know which one to choose? When am I supposed to choose? I don't, I don't even think I understand the question," she sniffed and bit back tears. It was so frustrating, what was it supposed to mean? What was she supposed to do? Wasn't she already supposed to have made her choice? Red or Blue?  
  
"Oh, honey," the Oracle said gently, hugging her. "Don't cry. Even I don't know the answer to that."  
  
"Auntie O, I'm so confused. Life's supposed to be simple now, isn't it?"  
  
"Now whoever told you that?" the old woman chided, "Whoever it was ought to be shot."  
  
Yami smiled weakly.  
  
"Dry your eyes kiddo, and look here again for just a minute," she indicated the spread of cards again.  
  
Yami wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and looked back at the table, rather bitterly. Stupid cards, why did they have to be so, so. Arrrg.  
  
"Now, I may not be able to tell you what you're going to pick, but look, your reading is dominated by one or several strong, male figures. Whatever you pick, it's going to hinge on something one or more of them does or says."  
  
"Greeeeat," she rolled her eyes. "So a guy is going to pick my life for me."  
  
"That's not what I said. What I said was something about them is going to make you realize what you want. Only you can choose your own path."  
  
"Only you can prevent forest fires," she muttered, thinking of the public service announcements.  
  
"That's right. Now here, have another cookie," she handed Yami another gingerbread man.  
  
Yami took it and bit the head off, decapitating it. Then she bit the leg off, 'de-leg-itating' it. She giggled.  
  
"Feel sorta better now?"  
  
She nodded.  
  
"I thought so." The Oracle picked up the tarot cards and put them back in their box.  
  
Yami pouted again though; the cookies making her think of Maiyumi again. "Auntie, why wouldn't Morpheus let me visit my sister, really?"  
  
The Oracle sighed and turned around, fixing her with a tender gaze. "Yami honey, if you went and saw her would you be able to go back, really?"  
  
Yami sighed too. Auntie O was right, she wouldn't be able to bear going back if she actually were to see her sister and how much she was being missed. She could barely handle it as it was. But she had to remind herself; she wasn't even really here, eating cookies in a kitchen, she was strapped to a chair on the Neb with a plug in her neck.  
  
"It'll be okay, honey," the Oracle reassured her.  
  
"Yeah, I know I'll 'get used to it'," she repeated snidely.  
  
But the woman surprised her by saying, "Not if you don't want to Yami, and even if you don't, well, that'll be okay too."  
  
"How?" she demanded. "How can that be okay?"  
  
The old woman sat back down next to her and looked at her, her face deeply concerned. "I don't say this to just anybody kiddo, but if you're ever in, what looks like... a bad situation, one where you don't think you've got anybody you can tell or anybody you can talk to and trust, you come to me, okay? You just call for Auntie O and we'll sort it out. I promise, I don't make judgments, and I won't take sides."  
  
Yami looked at her, tears wavering in her eyes again. She didn't know what Auntie O thought might happen, but she knew to have her say that to her...She threw her arms around the woman, two tears rolling down her cheeks. "Thank you Auntie O, I promise, I promise if I'm ever in a situation like that, I'll come and tell you. I will, I'll remember."  
  
The Oracle smiled and ran her fingers through the young woman's hair. "Good. But you'd better dry your eyes for now hon, if I don't miss my guess then dear old Morpheus is getting a bit impatient. I don't usually take this long," she confided.  
  
Yami nodded and released the woman, wiping away the tears on her face, and stood. "I'm ready."  
  
"Alright kiddo, no more questions for now?"  
  
She shook her head.  
  
The Oracle put a hand on her arm and led her gently to the door, reaching down and holding the knob. "Just one more thing honey, Tank's a good boy. Try to be gentle with him."  
  
"Wh-"  
  
But before she could get her question out, the Oracle opened the door to reveal Morpheus standing there, apparently about to knock.  
  
"Oh," he said.  
  
"Hello Morpheus," the Oracle said. "Yes, we're done."  
  
The man nodded.  
  
Oracle patted Yami gently on the shoulder and the young rebel walked out of the kitchen, trying, but unfortunately unable to affect her usual confident swagger.  
  
"See ya round honey," Auntie O said in parting, and closed the kitchen door again.  
  
Yami smiled and then looked up at Morpheus. Before she could speak he cut her off, saying, "What was said was for you, and for you alone."  
  
She nodded, figuring she didn't really wanna tell anybody about her experience anyway. It was very private after all.  
  
Morpheus strode out the door of the strange residence, with the red-haired young woman following behind. They were halfway down the stairs before they heard the shouts and other noises that could only mean a fight. Morpheus jumped the rest of the way down and threw the door open, Yami running after him.  
  
Neo was fighting two agents, a man and a woman. He was currently standing on the wrecked windshield of the car, fending them off with a broken stop sign.  
  
"Run!" Neo shouted, "just run!!"  
  
The woman leapt toward her and Yami didn't have to be told twice, at least this once. She dived under the woman and rolled, jumping up and taking off running, not stopping to look at Morpheus or Neo. She did not want to die today!  
  
She heard the agent behind her, shooting at her, and ducked around an alley, the bullets pinging off a garbage can and a drainpipe. The alley was a dead end; a fence like twenty feet high was blocking her. Could she make it? The agent was gaining on her. She had to make it. She ran and leapt, catching hold of the very top of the fencing. She struggled to pull herself up. She heard the agent fire a shot. She didn't exactly do it intentionally, but gravity shifted ninety degrees and she fell sideways onto the wall of the apartment building, thirty feet in the air. It didn't matter; she took off running again, her breath catching in her throat.  
  
The agent was still behind her, she could here her, following her on the ground, just waiting for a clear shot. Yami's blood boiled. What had she ever done to deserve this?! What had she ever done to them? She skidded to a halt as she reached the corner of the building. She pulled, back, one more step with gravity like this and she'd be falling forever. She had to swing it around. She concentrated, hearing the woman agent fire again, and felt her center of gravity shift abruptly. She threw herself around the side of the building, running.  
  
She heard a ringing in the pocket of her trench coat, her cell-phone. She pulled it out  
  
"Hello?!" she demanded, still running.  
  
"There's a hardline in the next building Yami," it was Tank. "Just across the street. Room number 202! You can make it!"  
  
"Right!" She shoved the phone back in her pocket. The next building was just ahead, running on the brick wall of the structure, she came to the street, the agent was catching up to her. She didn't even think, just jumped. And she felt her feet land on the other building. She fell down in the window, shattering in, a few shards of glass catching her arms.  
  
She landed in a roll on the floor, gravity back to normal. Panting she stood, turning, looking around quickly to see where room 202 could be. Out of the corner of her eye she saw movement; the agent had leapt in through the window. Yami took off running down the hall. She felt trapped, caged now, where the hell was that phone?! She pulled out her gun, maybe it wouldn't kill the agent, but it might slow her down.  
  
She turned slightly as she ran and fired three shots in quick succession, but to no avail. The woman dodged the bullets as if they were moving no faster than snails  
  
'Shit shit shit!!" Yami screamed, running. She grabbed her cell. "Tank!!"  
  
"It's on your left! The hall on your left!"  
  
Yami saw the hall, grabbing the corner of the wall and swinging around. She could hear a phone ringing. 199, 200, 201, 202!  
  
She grabbed the knob. Locked it was locked!! A hasty glance over her shoulder saw the agent nearly to her. She kicked the door, kicked it as hard as she could. The agent was leaping at her, shooting. Yami fell through, tumbling to the floor on the downed door. A woman screamed. Yami leapt up, reaching out to the phone with one hand and shooting back at the agent with the other. The agent grabbed hold of her ankle and Yami fell just an inch short of grabbing the phone. She was going to die, she was going to die. As if in slow motion the agent brought her gun up, the rebel lashed out, kicking and screaming, she kicked the gun out of the agent's hand and knocked her head against the slender coffee table the phone was on at the same time. Pain filled her ears. She saw the phone receiver falling and she saw another gun appear in the agent woman's hand. She reached up, grabbing the receiver as it fell, and saw the agent pull the trigger, she brought the phone up to her ear watching the bullet speeding towards her nose, so close she could she the scratches on it and then  
  
blackness.  
  
"Holy shit!!" Yami screamed, sitting up, panting and sweating. her knuckles white, gripping the sides of the chair.  
  
"Thank god you made it!" Tank exclaimed standing beside her.  
  
"The bullet, I saw it coming and..." she wheezed  
  
"And you were fast enough," said a paternal voice, Morpheus. He, Neo, Rom, 'Lete and Trinity were all there too. They had all made it back alive this time.  
  
"Just barely!!" she screeched. "Dear god I nearly had a heart attack," she held a hand to her chest, trying to slow her breathing.  
  
Tank patted her on the back. "I told you that you'd make it."  
  
"Yeah," she said. "Yeah, I guess I did."  
  
"Hey," said a voice. Yami looked up; it was Stevie again, lingering in the doorway. She was looking at Neo. "Did you see my dad?"  
  
"Yeah," he replied, a short, gruff bark.  
  
"And?"  
  
"What do you mean and?" he growled. "It was the same as always, he tried to kill me."  
  
"Duh. Did he say anything for me?"  
  
Yami watched the exchanged in confusion. Neo looked as if he would rather be talking to anyone else, saying anything else. He looked like he'd rather be eating slugs.  
  
He said through clenched teeth. "He sends. his. 'love'."  
  
Stevie nodded. "Thanks, Anderson." She turned around and walked away.  
  
Yami looked from Neo, to the empty doorway and back again. "Huh? What? What did she call you? What's the hell's going on?!" she demanded finally, lashing out and shaking her fists.  
  
Neo looked at her sourly. "Stevie is agent Smith's daughter."  
  
"Wha-at?!?" she stared back at the door, and then at Morpheus. "How the hell?"  
  
Morpheus nodded. "It does appear that she was raised by the agent."  
  
"But, what... then- why?" she stared around goggle-eyed.  
  
He shook his head. "I can't tell you. Perhaps you should ask her yourself."  
  
Yami leaned back in the chair, donking her head on the back of it. "I can't take this much weird shit in one day," she growled, her eyes closed.  
  
Tank patted her on the shoulder. "C'mon Yami, that can't be comfortable."  
  
"Nnnng." She heard the others shuffling away out of the room.  
  
The rebel brushed his fingers on her cheek.  
  
She opened one eye. "Tank?"  
  
"So, was the Oracle right, huh?"  
  
"Nnnng," she groaned again. "Yeah. Yeah probably she was. Unfortunately."  
  
"That bad?"  
  
"No, just that powerful." She sat up.  
  
"You want to talk about it?"  
  
"Not right now," she sighed.  
  
"Sure," he smiled.  
  
"I'm going to go lay down," she said, standing up. She rubbed her temples. "I'm going to guess no aspirin around here, huh?"  
  
"Sorry. I hope you feel better."  
  
"Me too." She shuffled uncomfortably into the short, narrow hallway. She stopped halfway, hearing a muffled noise from one of the rooms. The door was open a crack and she peeked in, trying to be unobtrusive.  
  
It was Stevie, lying on a bed-pallet, crying into her pillow. Yami felt first confused, then ashamed with herself. She stepped backwards to leave and the floor creaked.  
  
"Who's there?!" Stevie sniffed angrily.  
  
"I-"  
  
Stevie pulled the door open and glared at her. Her face was all red. "Didn't I tell you to go away?"  
  
"I- I just...wanted to know why you were crying," she said hesitantly, recalling their conversation from earlier.  
  
"Why do you care?" the girl hissed.  
  
"Well, you're upset," she insisted, crossly. "Why wouldn't I care?"  
  
"Because you're one of them," she spat.  
  
Yami reeled, confused. "Huh?"  
  
"You're a rebel, you want to be here. I don't. And Neo hates me because of my dad."  
  
"Hey hey hey!" she protested. "I haven't done anything to you, have I? Don't take it out on me!"  
  
Stevie frowned bitterly. "Fine. You want to come in?"  
  
"Alright..."  
  
Stevie turned around, leaving the door open and sat on her bed. Nervously Yami followed, passing from the dimly lit corridor into the nearly dark room.  
  
"Close the door, would you?"  
  
Yami nodded, and closed it gently with a click. Stevie turned on a small light that made a faint buzzing noise. The older girl leaned against the door, extremely uncomfortable, her headache no better than before.  
  
"So," Stevie said.  
  
"So," she replied.  
  
"You really aren't good company," Stevie remarked. "I thought you wanted to talk or something."  
  
"Yeah, yeah I did I mean. Well, why were you crying?"  
  
"Boy, why are you crying?" Stevie smirked. "Peter Pan."  
  
"I know that!" Yami said.  
  
Stevie snorted, and shrugged. "I was crying because I miss my friends," she said in a low voice, "and I miss my dad, and food that has a taste, and that you actually have to chew, and tv, and normal life, and I just want to go home."  
  
"But-"  
  
"No. That's not true. Whatever you're going to say it's not true. I want to go home!"  
  
Yami watched sadly as the girl struck her pillow, venting a tiny fraction of her aggression.  
  
"I just want to have a normal life again," she whispered.  
  
Yami kept her mouth shut, knowing nothing she could say would change Stevie's mind. But it wasn't real, Yami knew that. She had to believe it, had to believe because what was the point otherwise? It mattered that they were being forced to live in a dream world and having their energy drained away by machines. It mattered; they were being lied to and enslaved. The matrix was a trap, a trap for the mind. It was a crutch that Stevie couldn't seem to live without.  
  
"Neo says," Yami began, "Neo says your dad's an agent."  
  
"It's true," she replied. "He raised me. It was supposed to be some sort of experiment, but at the end, he couldn't let them kill me. My dad loves me, and that jerk isn't going to make me believe otherwise. He didn't just say it, he proved it. Otherwise I'd be dead instead of just sometimes wishing I was."  
  
An agent was her father? And he cared about her? But that was impossible, they were just programs. Everybody said so. Morpheus and Neo said so...  
  
"I'm sorry."  
  
"For what?" Stevie snapped.  
  
"That you're unhappy."  
  
"Yeah well..." she grumbled.  
  
"They keep telling me," Yami continued, "That I'll get used to 'this'," she made a vague gesture. "But, well, I donno. And somebody told me that it was okay if I didn't."  
  
Stevie looked at her. "Yeah?"  
  
"Look Stevie. I don't hate you. But I have a headache. I'm going to go lie down and try to feel better. You do that too. You try to be happier, and I'll try too."  
  
Stevie nodded carefully. "I' doubt it'll work..."  
  
Yami pulled the door softly open, and turned back to smile at the younger girl for a moment before closing the door again and walking down the hallway to her own room.  
  
End  
  
For now... 


End file.
